"Don't know what I'd do without CC. You keep me in the loop on the real events in our world." Beth - Dallas, TX

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Charles Koch: "I'm fighting to Restore a Free Society"

The left has been constantly pummeling and insulting the Koch Brothers of late accusing them of being "un-American" and worse. Charles Koch responds in this excellent editorial:

I have devoted most of my life to
understanding the principles that enable people to improve their lives.
It is those principles—the principles of a free society—that have shaped
my life, my family, our company and America itself.

Unfortunately,
the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law
and personal freedom are under attack by the nation's own government.
That's why, if we want to restore a free society and create greater
well-being and opportunity for all Americans, we have no choice but to
fight for those principles. I have been doing so for more than 50 years,
primarily through educational efforts. It was only in the past decade
that I realized the need to also engage in the political process.

A truly free society is based on a
vision of respect for people and what they value. In a truly free
society, any business that disrespects its customers will fail, and
deserves to do so. The same should be true of any government that
disrespects its citizens. The central belief and fatal conceit of the
current administration is that you are incapable of running your own
life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. This is the
essence of big government and collectivism.

More
than 200 years ago,
Thomas Jefferson
warned that this could happen. "The natural progress of things,"
Jefferson wrote, "is for liberty to yield and government to gain
ground." He knew that no government could possibly run citizens' lives
for the better. The more government tries to control, the greater the
disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle. Collectivists
(those who stand for government control of the means of production and
how people live their lives) promise heaven but deliver hell. For them,
the promised end justifies the means.

Instead
of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit
and intimidate opponents. They engage in character assassination. (I
should know, as the almost daily target of their attacks.) This is the
approach that
Arthur Schopenhauer
described in the 19th century, that
Saul Alinsky
famously advocated in the 20th, and that so many despots have
infamously practiced. Such tactics are the antithesis of what is
required for a free society—and a telltale sign that the collectivists
do not have good answers.

Rather than
try to understand my vision for a free society or accurately report the
facts about Koch Industries, our critics would have you believe we're
"un-American" and trying to "rig the system," that we're against
"environmental protection" or eager to "end workplace safety standards."
These falsehoods remind me of the late Sen.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan's
observation, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to
his own facts." Here are some facts about my philosophy and our
company:

Koch companies employ 60,000
Americans, who make many thousands of products that Americans want and
need. According to government figures, our employees and the 143,000
additional American jobs they support generate nearly $11.7 billion in
compensation and benefits. About one-third of our U.S.-based employees
are union members.

Koch employees have
earned well over 700 awards for environmental, health and safety
excellence since 2009, many of them from the Environmental Protection
Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. EPA officials
have commended us for our "commitment to a cleaner environment" and
called us "a model for other companies."

Our
refineries have consistently ranked among the best in the nation for
low per-barrel emissions. In 2012, our Total Case Incident Rate (an
important safety measure) was 67% better than a Bureau of Labor
Statistics average for peer industries. Even so, we have never rested on
our laurels. We believe there is always room for innovation and
improvement.

Far from trying to rig the
system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political
favors, including mandates, subsidies and protective tariffs—even when
we benefit from them. I believe that cronyism is nothing more than
welfare for the rich and powerful, and should be abolished.

Koch
Industries was the only major producer in the ethanol industry to argue
for the demise of the ethanol tax credit in 2011. That government
handout (which cost taxpayers billions) needlessly drove up food and
fuel prices as well as other costs for consumers—many of whom were poor
or otherwise disadvantaged. Now the mandate needs to go, so that
consumers and the marketplace are the ones who decide the future of
ethanol.

Instead of fostering a system
that enables people to help themselves, America is now saddled with a
system that destroys value, raises costs, hinders innovation and
relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty, dependency and
hopelessness. This is what happens when elected officials believe that
people's lives are better run by politicians and regulators than by the
people themselves. Those in power fail to see that more government means
less liberty, and liberty is the essence of what it means to be
American. Love of liberty is the American ideal.

If
more businesses (and elected officials) were to embrace a vision of
creating real value for people in a principled way, our nation would be
far better off—not just today, but for generations to come. I'm
dedicated to fighting for that vision. I'm convinced most Americans
believe it's worth fighting for, too.